The Guardian’s Open Journalism is a vox pop laugh-in
HOW does the Guardian illustrate its Open Journalism project. The paper explains Open Journalism thus:
Adam Freeman, executive director of commercial at Guardian News & Media, told a conference in Oxford that the loss-making newspaper was moving towards an “open vision for journalism”, whereby laypeople, who may not have any formal expertise, will be allowed key to the media group’s future.
…
“[It] is a collaboration between journalists within the building and experts out of the building … who are experts because they care about the subject matter as much as we do. They don’t have to be called professor,” he said.
Well, quite. Closed journalist, to stick with the theme, would call it a “source”, a “neighbour” or a “local mum”, for instance. But if old journalism is closed, why do the new open journalists need it? They can tweet and blog for themselves. Why do they need the Guardian to validate their views?
Open Journalism might also be called a vox pop. The Guardian sent journalists Oliver Laughland and Alice Salfield to asks Open Journalists, aka passers by:
London mayoral election: what does Boris Johnson do? . It seems Boris Johnson is never far from the public eye. But do you know what he actually does? Londoners tell us what they know about the mayor’s role and what goes on inside City Hall, and whether they think he’s doing a good job
You don’t need to be professor to have an opinion. But it might help if you know who Boris Johnson is, know more than he might earns a “nice wage” and that he is “terrific”.
Brilliant. Open Journalism might be the Guardian’s death knell…
Posted: 10th, March 2012 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
